Electric WizardOutside Stage 1, Baltimore MD May 27

I have no words to describe -- by 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night, four full days into Deathfest and with a rolling hangover that ebbed and flowed instead of ever abating -- how tired I was. Sometimes, after a shipwreck, survivors are picked up days later, after swimming the entire time to survive. Looking around, the crowd seemed to be barely keeping themselves afloat around me, muscles leaden and eyes puffy, even as a few brave souls raged on in the pit. A short, harsh rainfall had just broken over Saint Vitus's set, and a few fat drops still fell here and there, mixing with sweat. No lightening and thunder, though -- that energy had all been drawn into the guitars and amps of Electric Wizard, who now unleashed a different kind of storm, elemental and electric. My teeth felt loose in their sockets and my eyes buzzed to "Dopethrone" and "Black Mass." The crowd was undone by what would be the final set of Deathfest for many; Electric Wizard shook us to pieces.